


Beta Read

by ColoradoPeculiar



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Has a Crush on Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng Fluff, Adrinette | Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, F/M, Identity Reveal, It's still fluffy though, Marichat | Adrien Agreste as Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Marinette writes Fanfiction, negative talk of Adrien's crush, negative talk of Marinette's crush, no beta we die like men, not as much as Marinette's though, that's ironic, we address the problems of canon love square
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:41:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28040112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ColoradoPeculiar/pseuds/ColoradoPeculiar
Summary: When Marinette asks Adrien to beta one of her fanfictions it leads to a chain of events she had never dreamed of.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 26
Kudos: 214





	Beta Read

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PawsomePossum](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PawsomePossum/gifts).



If you had told her four months ago that Marinette Dupain-Cheng had started writing fanfiction about the heroes of Paris she would've laughed in your face. Now that it was her reality, it was a lot less funny.

She blamed Alya for it all. She had started writing LadyNoir fanfiction and had put it on her blog. Marinette being one half of the duo was less than enthused. She got it, people shipped her and Chat Noir, but she had heard enough LadyNoir to last her a lifetime, thank you very much.

So, she had tried to get Alya to stop writing fanfiction, but Alya just waved her off. She claimed that because Marinette didn't write fanfiction herself, she didn't understand what it was like to try and stop. Apparently, it was rather addicting especially when it was about your OTP. Marinette had scoffed, but after a week of Alya practically begging her to read one LadyNoir fanfiction or another, she had snapped.

Marinette asked Alya what she could possibly do to get Alya to stop talking about it. She said that Alya wouldn't have to give up writing or anything, she would only have to stop pestering Marinette. Alya smirked and then told her to try fanfiction for herself. Marinette only needed to write one and submit it to her blog and Alya would stop bugging. She wouldn't even need to put her actual name. Marinette, desperate to get a bit of peace, had begrudgingly agreed.

So fanfiction writer SpottingLucky was born. Marinette had spent hours one night writing down a 3,000 word fanfiction of Ladybug, Chat Noir, Rena Rouge, and Carapace all hanging out and just being friends together. She had tagged Renapace as the only relationship and the rest as friendships. Then, she submitted it to the Ladyblog.

She thought that would be the end of it, she really did! But then Alya had said it was her favorite Renapace fanfiction and it blew up. Marinette supposed that writing Rena Rouge and Carapace so accurately was probably the reason Alya had marked it as one of her favorites. If she had been smart she would've made them act at least a little bit out of character, but she hadn't. She supposed that maybe it was because Marinette was often fed up with people making her and Chat Noir out of character, even if it was only because they didn't really know the heroes. She didn't want to have Alya feel the same way, although it would've really given her a taste of her own medicine.

So then, Marinette had agreed to post the fanfiction to Archive of Our Own and those who had come from the Ladyblog made it boom with popularity. Soon, fans were asking for Marinette to write more. Marinette had gotten so much praise, she really didn't know what to do with it. Perhaps writing had been a hidden talent of hers, she had always enjoyed it after all, but writing _fanfiction?_

It was definitely something Marinette had never considered. She had only read a very select few in her time and hadn't even thought about writing one. But here she was! Quickly gaining popularity after only one story. People wanted more of her version of the heroes Paris idolized.

Still, she tried not to give in to the temptation of writing more. Chat Noir would never let it go and neither would Alya. She had replied to all the comments on the Ladyblog and AO3, but then logged out of her account and had thought it was over. Even if her one-shot had gotten more attention than she had ever really thought about. Even if writing about her hero friends made her feel better about being Ladybug. That it wasn't all just pressure and being perfect, being a hero was fun too! Even if it helped her not feel so alone with her duties always piling up, making her incredibly busy. She would not write more! She was adamant!

She wrote more.

It was the day that Lila had yet again painted a negative light on her, claiming that Marinette was at her and Adrien's latest photo shoot and accused her of stalking him. 

Her entire class, knowing just how far she had gone for Adrien before had of course believed Lila. She had accused her of lying like she always did, but then Lila pulled out her phone and showed the class a photo of Marinette talking with Adrien. His back was to the camera, so they couldn't see his face, but they had all assumed Lila's story was true.

"Girl, you know I'll always help you in Adrien shenanigans, even if I don't approve. You don't have to lie to us, you know. But Marinette, you need to do something to get your crush under control. It was endearing at first, but now it's just weird and a bit creepy. Look at this like it's your wakeup call! You can try and start not being so obsessed with him to the point it affects your rational thought. Maybe you didn't even know you were making him uncomfortable and Lila wanted to help you out. After all, all of us can see how bad you've got it for him and it can sometimes blind you. Lila probably understood that and did what she thought was best! She even made sure he wasn't here, so you wouldn't feel more embarrassed." Alya had whispered to her.

Adrien, of course, was out for a photo shoot and couldn't set the truth straight. He had taken her side during the whole expulsion debacle, after all.

"I'm telling the truth Alya! We just ran into each other and he had invited me to see the shoot behind-the-scenes. And my crush has gotten better! I've taken down the posters, replaced his schedule with my own, and I've stopped following him to see what he's up to!" Marinette had protested.

She would forever cringe whenever she would think about the earlier stages of her crush. It had taken an Adrien-fangirl getting akumatized to get her to realize that her crush wasn't the healthiest. Ever since then, Marinette had been focused on getting to know the Adrien Agreste that lied beneath the charade his father put him up to. She had always known that the charade wasn't truly him, but she supposed that her image of him probably wasn't the most accurate thing either.

How could she claim to be in love with him when she didn't even know the true him?

So, she had started making an effort to become his friend and getting to know him better. It took a few weeks, but soon she had stopped stuttering around him all together and had only fallen harder for the boy that she saw. He was dorkier than she had ever imagined, but it was a side of him Marinette loved to see. Especially because it didn't come out very often. It wasn't fair to him that he had to hide a huge part of himself, but knowing that he trusted Marinette like that? Oh she was more in love with him than ever! And she didn't have to feel guilty about it anymore. According to both Kagami and Adrien, they had both decided they were better off as friends after dating for a few weeks. 

It was bigger than a crush now and healthier too, but of course Alya didn't know that. The last update Marinette had given her was that she had rejected Luka for good after coming back from New York. Alya hadn't realized Marinette had toned down her obsession to a love for her friend.

So, even if it was frustrating, Marinette really couldn't blame her friends for taking Lila's side. They all thought she was only looking out for Marinette, after all.

That day she had gone home, flopped down in her chair and opened up her fanfiction account again. She needed to be Ladybug for a little bit, but she didn't want to transform for an unnecessary reason. Fanfiction was a happy middle.

This time it was a fluff piece of her and Chat Noir. 

Was it a little weird writing fanfiction about herself and her best friend? Yes it was. But Marinette figured it was no different than fantasizing about what would happen when you saw them again. It was just putting it down on paper and then posting it on the internet.

So, three and a half hours later, the one-shot was uploaded. Much like the first one, it exploded over the course of a few days. She had posted the two pieces two weeks apart and surprisingly, there were still a lot of people from the first one-shot commenting and liking her second one. It definitely cheered her up after the day she had.

She was only human after all and getting praise was always nice. 

Since then, she started writing more often. Alya was right, it was easy to get hooked. Fanfiction allowed her to have an outlet to talk about her hero life without people actually knowing she was Ladybug! Plus, it was fun imagining the different types of mischief the different heroes would get into.

After learning that King Monkey was none other than Kim, she was sure he and Chat Noir would get into all sorts of shenanigans that she would get them out of. So, she had posted just that.

Renapace trying to set LadyNoir up and the latter acting super oblivious to get the former off their backs? That was the fourth one-shot SpottingLucky had posted.

Within a month of posting her first one shot, SpottingLucky became incredibly popular across not only AO3, but Wattpad and the LadyBlog's fanfiction section as well.

Her days started to pass by in a repeat, she would go to school, do her homework, hang out with friends, write a little bit of fanfiction, and then attend to her Ladybug duties. 

Before she knew it, it was the one year of Ladybug and Chat Noir defeating Stoneheart, the day after would be the one year of her meeting Adrien.

She knew that she had to do something special for the occasion. She had already made Chat Noir's gift that she would give to him that night when they went on patrol, but she wanted to do something for her SpottingLucky account as well.

She decided to write the longest one-shot that she had ever written. She had also done something she hadn't dared to try. She wrote romantic LadyNoir.

As much as she was in love with Adrien, after he had toned down on his flirting, she couldn't help but admit she was developing a bit of a crush on Chat Noir. It was nowhere near the level of what she felt for Adrien, of course, but it was still there.

However, it wasn't fair to him if she were to ask him out while still head-over-heels for Adrien. It was the same reason she had never made it official between her and Luka, too. So, romantic LadyNoir would have to be confined to the internet.

But, this was the first one-shot that she was nervous about posting. It was so different from what she usually did! What if her readers hated it?

She knew what she needed. She needed a beta. Someone who was experienced enough in fanfiction to be able to tell when a romance was good or not. Someone who she trusted enough to confess that she was SpottingLucky. Nobody knew about her second alter-ego, not even Alya! Besides, if Marinette asked Alya to beta the fanfiction she would never hear the end of it.

No, Alya couldn't beta her, but Marinette knew exactly who could.

"Adrien! Can I talk to you about something before class starts?" She ran up to the boy, who was sitting on one of the courtyard benches, and asked him. He looked pleasantly surprised.

"Sure thing, Marinette what's up?" He asked her. Marinette took a deep breath and sat down next to him.

_'It's okay Marinette! Sure, this may be the boy you're in love with, but he's also one of your best friends! You can trust him!'_

"I need you to beta something for me." She said, eyes closed and all in one breath.

"Oh? Sure thing! I didn't realize you wrote fanfiction." Marinette opened her eyes to see that Adrien was giving her a warm smile.

She relaxed. She knew she could trust him!

"Yeah, I started writing back towards the end of May."

"Wow, that'll be four months, won't it?" Marinette nodded.

"Yep! Alya actually got me hooked on writing, but don't tell her that."

"She'd never let it go, would she?" Marinette shook her head.

"I'm afraid not."

"So, what fandom do you write for?" Adrien asked, his eyes sparkling.

Since becoming one of his best friends she realized that Adrien Agreste was a total weeb. She, of course, was one too, but he was even more obsessed than she was. After all, she had seen his AO3 account for herself and had witnessed the amount of bookmarks he had. Same thing with his Wattpad, his library was practically endless.

He was definitely experienced with fanfiction enough to separate good romance from a bad one. She just hoped he wouldn't judge her for writing about real people.

"Well, I actually write about the heroes of Paris?" She gave him a nervous smile.

Thank kwami, his face only brightened.

"Seriously? That's so cool! I read a ton of fanfiction about the heroes. My all time favorite writer is SpottingLucky, ever heard of them?" He asked.

Her heart fluttered. She was his favorite writer!

Wait...

 _She_ was his favorite writer!

What if she didn't live up to his expectations? What if this fanfiction was terrible and he started to hate her? What if-?

 _'Come on Marinette, this is Adrien. Do you really think he'd hate you if you didn't write something you've never even dabbled in before super well?'_ She thought to herself. The answer was no.

"Well uh, about that," She took in a deep breath. "I actually am SpottingLucky." She gave him an awkward grin.

His jaw dropped.

_'This was a terrible idea! He's gonna be so disappointed and is never gonna talk to you again and-.'_

"That's so cool!I absolutely love your work! It feels like your characterization of the heroes is so accurate and I always laugh about the shenanigans. You're even more amazing than I thought!" Was he... fanboying over her? It sounded a lot like it.

R.I.P. Marinette's heart dead because her crush couldn't stop being so freaking adorable.

"Hehe, thanks." She said awkwardly, thanking all her luck that she didn't stutter.

"Of course Marinette! It's honestly an honor that you would ask me to be your beta!" He looked at her with stars in his eyes. 

"Well, you are one of my best friends. I don't know who else I would want to ask other than you." Adrien beamed at her.

"Again, I'm honored that you've given me this opportunity. I won't let you down!" He gave her a salute and a dorky smile that made her heart skip a beat.

Oh, this boy was going to kill her.

"Well, I'm counting on you. I've never written something like this before and I'm a bit nervous to post this if I'm being honest." 

"I'm sure that as long as you wrote it, it's going to be amazing." Adrien said.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence. I just wanted to do something extra-special for the anniversary of Ladybug and Chat Noir you know?"

"Yeah, I totally get it. I've never written fanfiction before, but it sounds like a lot of fun."

"Maybe I'll have to give you a few tips." Marinette winked. Adrien laughed.

"I look forward to it. So, may I see the fanfiction?" He asked. Marinette nodded.

"Yeah, sure thing! I'll share the document with you right now." She opened up her phone.

"You write on a separate document?" Marinette nodded.

"Yeah, that way it saves."

"That's so cool!" Adrien said.

"I know right?" Marinette looked up at him only to see him giving her the warmest stare she'd seen.

Butterflies roused in her stomach.

"You know, it seems like everyday I learn something new about you and think 'that girl can't be more amazing' only to be proven wrong the next day." Marinette's mouth fell open in a small 'o' as a blush rose to her cheeks. "Sorry, was that too much?" He asked her nervously.

"No, no! Not at all, just surprising." She gave him a shy glance as she pressed on the document that was under her thumb.

"Why?"

"Well it's just that, you do so much for so many Adrien. You're such a kind person and I really look up to you. To think you think I'm the amazing one?" She smiled. "It's.... I have no words." Adrien was still gazing at her with that warm expression on his face.

"Thank you Marinette, that means so much to me." She nodded and then glanced down at the document.

She pressed on the share button quickly, before she could lose her nerve of showing this to Adrien. 

"Thanks again for doing this." She said as she shared the document with him.

"Of course Marinette! It's the least I can do considering all the times you've helped me out."

"I guess so." The warning bell rang.

"Shall we head to class?" He asked her, standing up and offering her his hand.

"We shall." She took his hand and to her utter delight, he didn't let go until they were both seated.

Alya raised her eyebrows at the sight of them, but everyone else was too busy with catching up with friends that they hadn't seen over the summer.

"What was that about?" Alya whispered to Marinette as soon as she had sat down.

"We were sitting on a bench before school, I grabbed his hand when he helped me stand up and we didn't let go." 

"And you're not totally freaking out about it?" Alya asked incredulously. Marinette's face turned into a dopey smile against her best efforts.

"I'm trying hard not to, Alya. He's a gentleman, he would probably do the same for any girl." Marinette tried her hardest not to read into his actions. It was hard enough all those months of her thinking she had a chance with him, only for him to friendzone her constantly.

"Maybe help her get up, but hold her hand all the way to class? You may actually have a big chance here Mari!" Alya told her excitedly.

"I don't know, Alya. I don't want to get my hopes up again only for him to constantly friendzone me." Alya hummed.

"Have you ever considered that he only friendzoned you because he didn't realize you felt differently? After all, Kagami was just a friend before she made her feelings clear."

"No she wasn't. He told me that day at the wax museum all those months ago. He was in love with a girl. She might've been just a friend when he first met her, but she wasn't soon after." Marinette said. "Plus, all my previous confessions have been nothing but disasters. I don't want to go down that rabbit hole again. I value his friendship too much for it all to be ruined by me becoming obsessed." Marinette said. Alya patted her back.

"I'm proud of you. You've come a long way in a year. It's a good thing Lila called you out!" Marinette gritted her teeth.

"Yeah. Good thing." 

The school day passed by in a blur of lectures, projects, and chatting with friends between periods. 

Finally, Marinette was home and her homework was done.

"Are you excited for tonight?" Tikki asked her.

"Definitely. I hope Chat likes his present."

"He'll like anything you give him, I'm sure of it!"

"Thanks Tikki." Marinette opened up a new tab on her computer and logged into her SpottingLucky account.

"When are you going to post your story, Marinette?" Tikki asked her.

Marinette always felt incredibly lucky that Tikki was so supportive of her fanfictions. She was the only one who Marinette could talk to about both sides of her life. It would be terrible if they started to argue over something as trivial as fanfiction.

"As soon as Adrien finishes up his feedback." She opened up the document and her brows furrowed.

"What's wrong?"

"It doesn't look like he's made any edits."

"Maybe he's busy! You know how his father is." Marinette hummed.

"Yeah, you're probably right." But something nagged her. Adrien seemed super excited about reading her story and she was sure that he had finished his homework before her. She knew that he most likely had an extra-curricular program today (it took all of her self-control not to run through his schedule that she still knew), but something bugged her.

Chat would probably say that her Ladybug senses were tingling.

Marinette bit her lip and pressed on the share button. Her eyes went wide.

"What is it?" Tikki asked.

"I didn't share this document with him." She said, her voice filled with shock.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that the document I shared with him wasn't this one!" She said, giving Tikki a panicked look.

"Well then, he'll just see one that you've already posted. Just share this one with him. It's a simple fix." Tikki tried to cheer her up.

"You don't get it Tikki! If I didn't share this one with him I bet that I..." Instead of finishing her sentence she opened up another document. Heart pounding, she looked at who the document was shared with.

"Marinette?" Tikki asked softly, alarmed after a minute of silence.

"I-I-I" Marinette started to laugh, but it was a crazed laugh that scared Tikki.

"What is it?"

"I shared an Aspik X Multimouse fanfiction with him." She told Tikki, her eyes wide. "I shared an Aspik X Multimouse fanfiction with him!" She screeched. "My life is over!" She wailed flopping onto her desk.

Meanwhile at the Agreste mansion Adrien was incredibly confused.

"Kid, you look like Alya just posted a theory that Ladybug is secretly Hawkmoth." Plagg told him, gobbling down camembert like always.

"It's the fanfiction Marinette sent me." He said slowly, blinking as if checking to see if what he was reading was real.

"What about it?"

"It's Aspik X Multimouse." He said slowly. Plagg choked on his cheese.

"Say that again kid? I think I misheard you."

"I said it's Aspik X Multimouse." Adrien stood up and walked away from the computer, pacing.

"W-what? That's-"

"Crazy, impossible, unexpected?"

"All of the above." Plagg answered.

"Tell me about it. She wrote about me and her. Together. As a couple." Adrien's mind was reeling with information.

"Yeah, I guess so." A sudden thought occurred to Adrien.

"How does she know about Aspik?" He asked. "I mean sure, Luka could've told her, but he didn't know my name! Only Ladybug..." He trailed off.

"No kid. I know what you're thinking!" Plagg quickly flew up in his face.

"Plagg, only Ladybug and I knew about Aspik and I certainly haven't told Marinette about it."

"Maybe Ladybug told her?" Plagg suggested.

"Would she really do something like that though?" Adrien wondered.

"Well maybe!" Plagg suggested, but Adrien could hear the panic in his voice. It was subtle, but it was there.

Adrien narrowed his eyes.

"Ladybug is a stickler about identities. She wouldn't willingly give up one to anyone, not even Marinette." A conclusion was quickly forming in his head, but he didn't dare breath a word about it.

"You saw them together at the same time, remember? They can't be the same person!" After knowing him for a year Adrien knew it wasn't often when Plagg was this nervous. In fact, Adrien didn't recall a time other than Kwamibuster when he was this nervous. 

He had suspicions then too.

"Yeah-huh, yet Adrien and Chat Noir have appeared in the same place at the same time before." Adrien stared into Plagg's eyes, not relenting on his stare.

"She couldn't possibly have a Wayhem on her! Face it Adrien what you saw was reality!" Adrien sighed and looked down.

"I know, I just wish..." He shook his head.

"You wish your two loves were one." Plagg finished his thought.

"Is that so selfish Plagg?" Adrien asked. "I've been in love with Ladybug for a year today and I fell hard for Marinette in New York. No matter what I do I can't seem to choose between them. It would certainly make things easier if they were the same person."

"I'm sorry, Adrien." Plagg said genuinely.

"I know. Happy anniversary by the way. Thanks for always being there for me you little cheese gremlin." Adrien told him, smiling.

"Happy anniversary. You're one of the best holders that I've had."

"Thank you Plagg."

"It's only the truth, kid." Adrien turned back to the computer screen and sighed.

"I guess Ladybug did tell her about Aspik." He said, letting go of his earlier suspicions. He was never that lucky anyway.

"You think she knows it's you?" Plagg asked.

"Doubt it. She wouldn't have asked for me to beta this otherwise."

"Unless this was her way of confessing." Plagg suggested. Adrien whirled around to face him.

"What do you mean?" Adrien asked.

"Hmmm, do I tell you or do I not tell you?" He tapped his chin.

"Plagg, please. Do I have a chance with her?" Adrien had never pursued Marinette for a myriad of reasons, the biggest being he knew she didn't feel the same. The second was that he didn't want to put a strain on their relationship like he had with Ladybug and the third was Ladybug herself.

"I guess because it's our anniversary I'll be kind. Pigtails has had a crush on you for forever." Adrien's eyes bulged out of his head.

"What?" He exclaimed.

"Yep. She likes you a lot kid! It's so obvious in how she acts around you." Adrien's jaw dropped.

"What do you mean it's obvious?" He asked, his voice raising several octaves.

"I mean she's liked you since the beginning of the year you dingus!"

"B-but she's always said I'm just a friend!" He protested.

There was no way he was that blind!

"And have you ever told her that she was any different to you?"

"Well, no." Adrien looked back at the computer.

"She probably didn't want to be rejected. I swear kid you're so oblivious you would even fall for Trixx's worse illusion." Adrien turned back to Plagg.

"Trixx?" He questioned.

"He's the fox kwami."

"Ah." Adrien returned to the monitor.

Wait a second...

"Did you see Trixx when you were captured by Kwamibuster?" Adrien tried his hardest to keep his voice even.

There was a puzzle in his mind and if he got the answer he was looking for, he might've solved it.

"Uh yeah? Wh-" Plagg felt a gust of wind as Adrien hurried to the computer.

Anxiously, he opened up the Ladyblog and pulled up a photo of Ladybug.

"Kid?"

Adrien just ignored his kwami and opened up his phone to see the contact photo he had of Marinette. Standing on his desk chair, he compared the two.

Everything clicked.

"Oh. My. God!" Adrien practically screeched as he fell off his chair.

"What? What?" Adrien ignored Plagg again.

Instead he called his transformation words and jumped as fast as he could out of his house and to Marinette's.

"Marinette! Please let me in!" He called, knocking on the trap door.

"Chat Noir?" Marinette called from down below.

"I need to talk to you! It's urgent." He was running on pure adrenaline at this point. His heart was beating so loud he could feel it.

"What is it?" She asked, popping her head out of the trap door after he moved back.

Chat Noir blinked.

Her hair was pulled up in a messy bun, she was in an old t-shirt, and it looked like her eyes were red.

She looked beautiful.

"Uhhh,"

"Well, what was so urgent? You interrupted a breakdown you know." She gave him a teasing grin. It was one he had seen many times before both on her and his lady.

How had he not seen it earlier?

Wait did she say,

"A breakdown?" He asked, his brows furrowing in worry. "What about? Are you alright? Who do I need to beat up?"

"No one ki-Chat." Was she about to call him kitty? Aw, how cute! "I just messed up." She sighed.

"You want to talk about it?" He asked her. The identity reveal could wait, right now he needed to help her.

Marinette groaned.

"I sent my crush fanfiction about us." She muttered.

"W-what was that?" His voice was raised two octaves again.

Plagg was right?

She liked _him_?

Marinette had seen first hand how much of a dork he was and yet she still had feelings for him?

Maybe her luck was finally rubbing off on him!

Oh God this was....

This was!

Oh this was everything good and amazing and-

"Terrible!"

Oh, that's right. She didn't know that her crush was requited. Well, he would have to fix that right away.

"I mean the only good thing was that he didn't know it was me because I wrote about myself being Multimouse, but it's still mortifying to think about and what if Adrien somehow figures out it's me who's Multimouse and-."

"You're _cat_ -astrophizing things m'lady, I'm sure he'd be ecstatic to know it was you."

"Easy for you to say you're not the one who-" She suddenly cut herself off and turned to him, her eyes wide. "What did you just call me?" She whispered.

"M'lady?" He tried to fight the grin that appeared on his face, but as her mouth got wider, so did his grin.

"W-what are you walking, no I mean gawking, I mean! Alking I mean!"

"M'lady, it's okay." He put his arm around her shoulder as she started to whine.

"No it's not! You weren't supposed to know!" She said, her eyes panicked.

"With all due respect, you're Guardian now. We knew Master Fu's identity and he knew ours. It's time, bugaboo."

"But Chat, you weren't there!" She still protested.

"Weren't where?" He asked. Marinette took in a shaky breath. He glanced down at her only to see tears brimming at the corner of her eyes. "Hey, Princess, it's okay. This is a good thing." He pulled her into a hug, which she returned quickly. "Think about how much stronger our partnership will be now! We won't have to keep things from each other anymore."

"But Chat, I went to the future once. Bunnix came and got me."

"I thought she wasn't allowed to interfere with the present." He said.

"Normally she isn't but Chat," She started to cry into his shoulder.

"Shh it's okay." He stroked her hair.

"It was terrible. Everything was underwater and broken and people were dead, including me." He stiffened.

"Was it an akuma?" He asked, trying his hardest to keep his voice even. However, the thought of her dying, it was a lot. He felt her nod.

"Who?" He asked, already dreading the answer.

"You." She whispered.

Out of all the names he had expected her to say, his definitely wasn't one of them.

"You knew my identity and said that our love destroyed the world."

His heart fell to his stomach. He was the one who killed her? And they had been in love?

"That's why I always tried to stop myself from falling for you. Of course it did nothing anyway." She muttered. Chat pulled back, looking at her with wide eyes.

"You? You fell for me?" He whispered. She nodded.

"Yeah. You and Adrien." He started to grin. "Now, Chat Noir, I know you probably want to date me." He nodded frantically. "But we can't." He felt his heart break and his grin slipped off his face.

"Why not?" He asked.

"Because for one, I may have a crush on you, but I'm in love with Adrien." Chat grinned.

"That's not a problem. Was that the other boy?" Marinette gave him an unimpressed look.

"Yes, he was. And it is a problem! I can't play with your heart like that Chat. For another, we have a duty to Paris! We can't affect our partnership and if we break up we will!"

"Marinette, you don't think this won't change our partnership? Even if we did remain just friends, friends fight! There's no guarantee that staying friends will help our partnership more than a relationship will."

"But, they would know we're each other's weaknesses!" She protested.

"They already know that, bug. Sure they may not know how deep our affections run, but they definitely know we care about each other. We've been used as leverage before after all."

"I suppose that you're right, but what if something like Chat Blanc happens again?"

"Look around, do you see Bunnix anywhere? I love you Marinette, don't give up on us because you're worried about things that may never happen!" He told her.

"You love me?" She whispered. "Still?"

"Of course I do! I never really got over Ladybug and then in New York I fell for Marinette. The fact you're the same person is..." He shook his head, grinning. "It's the best thing that's ever happened to me."

"Oh Chat," Her brows furrowed. "Wait, New York? When did Marinette interact with Chat Noir in New York?"

"They didn't."

"Then how-?"

"Remember how I said you loving Adrien wouldn't be a problem?" He smirked as it dawned on her.

"No way. There is no freaking way! I can't be that lucky! The guy I've fallen in love with and the guy I've been crushing on being the same person? There's no way!"

"There is a way." He said, winking at her. Both of them shut their eyes as a green light flashed around them as Adrien called his detransformation words.

"I'm scared to open my eyes." She whispered after a few seconds of silence. "Because what if you're not him?"

"But what if I am Mari? What then?" He whispered back.

"Then I promise, I'll start accepting red roses." He laughed and then kitten kissed her.

"Mariiii, open your eyes my love." She took a deep breath in.

"Okay." She opened her eyes. "Adrien!" She squealed and tackled him to the ground. He laughed.

"Hey, my lady! It's me."

"It's you!" She cheered from on top of him. "Oh, I'm the luckiest girl and the world!" She cheered.

"And I'm the luckiest guy." He whispered. Their gazes fell to each other's lips and then glanced up at their eyes."May I?" Adrien asked. Marinette nodded.

It was a bit awkward, like all first kisses were, but the warmth and the softness made up for it. It was perfect in all its imperfections. Just the two of them sharing the first kiss that they would remember on her rooftop on their anniversary. It was perfect.

"I'm sorry." Adrien gulped.

"What do you mean?" He dared to ask.

"About all of the rejections." He sighed in relief.

"It's okay. You were rejecting me for me after all."

"And I'm sorry I could never work up the guts to tell you how I truly felt."

"It's scary, I don't blame you for not doing it."

"I tried so many times, but it was always some sort of disaster."

"Like the wax museum?" Adrien smirked. Marinette let out a groan.

"Yes, but Adrien before you get into a relationship with me, I need to tell you about my earlier crush on you."

"Okay?" Adrien furrowed his brows. "Why would I need to know that?"

"Because it was incredibly unhealthy."

"Marinette, I'm sure it was nothing worse than my Ladybug-"

"I literally had your schedule memorized."

"O-oh?" He asked.

"Yep. It was so I could go up and ask you out without having to deal with the awkward schedule making because I would've chosen the perfect time on the perfect day and," She shook her head. "That doesn't make it okay. I've done a lot of terrible things because of jealousy. I followed you and Lila home once, I tried sabotaging Kagami on friendship day, and the biggest screw up of all was giving Kagami the miraculous instead of Chloe resulting in the akumatization of Miracle Queen and," her voice started to break, "the loss of Master Fu. I was so preoccupied with stopping you and her that I forgot to transform back and-"

"Hey, hey, look at me." Marinette looked up at him, tears streaming down her cheeks. He reached forward and kissed them off her skin. "I would've done the same thing if Lila manipulated her way into your home, I stalked the Ladyblog eighteen hours a day, I had dolls of us and made them kiss, and I got Theo akumatized into Copy Cat. You're not perfect Marinette, you're human. You don't have to be perfect."

"Ladybug does." She sniffled.

"Marinette, no. She doesn't."

"But Paris-"

"Paris will understand if a fourteen year-old girl isn't absolutely perfect. I've messed up so many times and they still love me!" Marinette chuckled.

"So you don't hate me? Even after knowing what a creepy stalker I was?" She asked.

"You've admitted to doing something and have stopped doing it. How could I hate you for that? Besides I had just as an unhealthy obsession with you."

"You never stalked me." She muttered.

"I never got the chance too." She slapped his chest teasingly.

"Thank you." She said.

"For what?"

"For being my beta." She grinned. He laughed.

"That was actually what gave you away you know."

"Seriously?" Marinette asked, giggling.

"Seriously! No one knew who Aspik was except for Ladybug and I. Plagg almost had me convinced that Ladybug had told you before he blabbed to me that Trixx was there when you were Multimouse." Her eyes narrowed.

"I'll be sure to talk with him." Adrien laughed.

"Don't blame him M'lady, he didn't even realize he was giving away your identity."

"Fine." Her gaze then softened. "Happy Anniversary Chaton."

"Happy Anniversary M'lady."

"I love you." His heart fluttered. He highly doubted that he would ever get used to that.

"I love you too."

She leaned down and kissed him again.

Out of all of the ways Adrien had thought he would end up with Ladybug or Marinette as his girlfriend he never once had thought it would be because of fanfiction, but as wrapped his arms around her to deepen the kiss, he only had one thought in mind:

 _'Thank God for beta readers.'_


End file.
